The E.D.G.E.

For many city apartment dwellers, living in a small, confined space is hardly cause for celebration. But this year, the American Institute of Architects’ Small Project Awards honored the E.D.G.E.—an inventive 360-square-foot modular prototype that explores the concept of living well—and living green—with less space.

The E.D.G.E. home (Experimental Dwelling for a Greener Environment) is built more like a finely crafted cabinet than a house. The sustainable and portable dwelling, designed by Revelations Architects of Stevens Point, WI, features prefabricated modules for mechanical systems, a kitchen on one end, and a bathroom on the other. Loft bedrooms positioned above each module create an open central living made even more expansive by large north- and south-facing glass walls.

Photo: Revelations Architects

Fundamental to the adaptability of the living quarters is the built-in furniture that can be reconfigured for entertaining, dining, sleeping and working. The finished interior elevates the natural wood grain and beauty of one of the most basic of building materials: precision-cut Baltic Birch plywood. Horizontal slats of white oak finish the exterior and serve as a rain screen.

Photo: Revelations Architect

The house not only boasts a small physical footprint, but also a reduced carbon one. The house utilizes geothermal heat, passive solar design, air-to-air heat transfer and a butterfly roof for rainwater harvesting. Movable exterior insulated shutters serve the dual purpose of controlling heat gain and loss while providing security when the house is vacant.

Photo: Revelations Architect

To see the house in action, click on this clever video from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in which Mary Louise Schumacher, art and architecture critic, spends a weekend at the E.D.G.E. home in Bayfield, WI.